20 ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.3, NO.

1 FEBRUARY 2005

Fuel Cell and Supercapacitors for Automotive Hybrid Electrical System

Phatiphat Thounthong1 , Sphane Ral2 , and Bernard Davat2 , Non-members t e
ABSTRACT The design and testing of a purely supercapacitor energy storage system for the power conditioning of automotive system having a PEM fuel cell as main source is presented. The innovative control strategy is that fuel cell is simply operating in almost steady state conditions in order to lessen the mechanical stresses of fuel cell and to insure a good synchronization between fuel ow and fuel cell current. Supercapacitors are functioning during absence of energy from fuel cell, transient energy delivery or transient energy recovery. The system utilizes a supercapacitive storage device, composed of six components (3,500 F) associated in series. This device is connected to a 42 V dc bus by a 2-quadrant dc/dc converter, and fuel cell is connected to the dc bus by a boost converter. The system structure is realized by analogical current loops and digital control (dSPACE) for voltage loops and estimation algorithms. Experimental results with a 500 W PEM fuel cell point out the slow dynamics of fuel cell because of thermodynamic and mechanical operation, and also substantiate that the supercapacitors can improve dynamics and power conditioning for automotive electrical system. Keywords: Automotive, Hybrid Electrical System, Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell, Supercapacitor 1. INTRODUCTION At this time, the energy and pollution crisis becomes the great problem around the world, and as a consequence novel renewable and clean energy power sources must be considered. One of the prevalent alternative sources of electric power is fuel cell (FC) [1]. Scientists are developing many dierent types of fuel cell employing dierent fuels and electrolytes.
05PSJ05: Manuscript received on January 22, 2005 ; revised on April 5, 2005. 1 The author is with Department of Teacher Training in Electrical Engineering, King Mongkuts Institute of Technology North Bangkok, E-mail: Phatiphat.Thounthong@ensem.inplnancy.fr. 2 The authors are with Ecole Nationale Suprieure e dElectricit e et de Mcanique, e Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine, Nancy, France, E-mail: Stephane.Rael@ensem.inpl-nancy.fr, Bernard.Davat@ensem.inpl-nancy.fr.

One of the most promising is the lightweight, relatively easy to build and small Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC), rst used by NASA in the 1960s as part of the Gemini space program [2,3]. Fuel cell power generation systems are expected to increase in utilization in dierent applications such as stationary loads, automotive applications, and interfaces with electric utilities due to the numerous advantages over conventional generation systems. Hybrid electrical cars, such as the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, were especially tested by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and showed their ability for fuel saving [4]. Furthermore, the fuel cell Transit Bus, which has been designed and developed by DOE, has been acknowledged as a zero emission vehicle. Its only emission is, in fact, water vapor [5]. Dierent previous works have already pointed out the possibility to use fuel cell in distributed power generation systems [6-8]. Nonetheless, one of the main weak points of fuel cell is its slow dynamics. In reality, the dynamics of fuel cell is limited by the hydrogen and oxygen delivery system, which contains pumps and valves, and in some cases a hydrogen reforming process [9-11]. Especially, a step in the load power demand will imply huge variation of the dc bus voltage, because the main source has a slow dynamic response. Moreover, in distributed system, the dc bus voltage control has problem when electrical loads demand or recover high energy in short time (for example, while motors start or brake). To solve these problems, the system must have a fast auxiliary source, to supply or to absorb high transient energy. The new high current supercapacitor technology has been developed for this purpose [1216]. Then the very fast power response of supercapacitors can be used to complement the slower power output of the fuel cell to produce the compatibility and performance characteristics needed by automotive system as shown in Fig. 1. In addition, fuel cell has slow dynamics by natural. If it is operated in nearly steady state condition in order to avoid speedy transition of fuel cell current, mechanical stresses are avoid, and lifetime of the fuel cell stack will increase [17-19]. This paper presents principles of fuel cell and supercapacitor, and proposes a small-scale test bench composes of a PEM fuel cell as main source and supercapacitors as auxiliary source for a 42 V dc bus. It especially details the new control strategy based

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Fig.1: Fuel Cell and Supercapacitors for Automotive System. on power conditioning between the two sources taking into account the low dynamics of the fuel cell. The experimental results are composed of two parts; the rst one shows PEM fuel cell characteristics when connecting with converter to the dc bus; the second one shows hybrid characteristics for dierent situations while connecting to dc bus in order to authenticate system operation. 2. FUEL CELL 2. 1 Principle of Operation [2,20] The developments leading to an operational fuel cell can be traced back to the early 1800s with Sir William Grove recognized as the discoverer in 1839. A fuel cell is an energy conversion device that converts the chemical energy of a fuel directly into electricity. Energy is released whenever a fuel (hydrogen) reacts chemically with the oxygen of air. The reaction occurs electrochemically, and the energy is released as a combination of low-voltage dc electrical energy and heat. Types of fuel cells dier principally by the type of electrolyte they utilize as present in Fig. 2. The types of electrolyte, which is a substance that conducts ions, determine the operating temperature, which varies widely between types (table 1). Proton Exchange Membrane (or solid polymer) Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is presently the most promising type of fuel cells for automotive applications and has been used in the majority of prototypes built to date. Accordingly, this research focuses exclusively on this type of fuel cell. The structure of a cell is represented in Fig. 3. Flowing along the x direction the gases come from channels designed in the bipolar plates (thickness 110 mm). Vapor water is added to gases to humidify the membrane. The diusion layers (100-500 m) ensure a good distribution of the gases to the reaction layers (5-50 m). These layers constitute the electrodes of the cell made of platinum particles, which play the role of catalyst, deposited within a carbon support on the membrane. Fig.2: Principle of Acid (top) and Alkaline (bottom) Electrolytes Fuel Cells.

Fig.3: Dierent Layers of an Elementary Cell. Hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction: H2 2H + + 2e 1 2H + + 2e + O2 H2 O 2 anode cathode (1)

are separated by the membrane (20-200 m) which carries protons from the anode to the cathode and is impermeable to electrons. This ow of protons drags water molecules as gradient of humidity leads to a diusion of water according to the local humidity of the membrane. Water molecules can then go in both directions inside the membrane according to the side where the gases are humidied and to the current density which is directly link to the proton ow through the membrane and to the water produced on the cathode side.

22 ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.3, NO.1 FEBRUARY 2005

Table 1: Dierent Types of Fuel Cells, Ion Crossing the Electrolyte, Operating Temperature and Typical Applications [1].

wires for the current, 22 tubes for the gases and 12 tubes for the cooling system. As the gases are supplied in excess to ensure a good operating of the cell, the non-consumed gases have to leave the fuel cell carrying with them the produced water. Generally, a water circuit is used to impose the operating temperature of the fuel cell (approximately 60-70 C). At start up, the fuel cell is warmed and later cooled as at the rated current nearly the same amount of energy is produced under heat form than under electrical form. 3. SUPERCAPACITOR Basically, the three factors to realize massive capacitance are the physical surface area of the two electrodes, the distance between them, and the type of dielectric material. Instead of metal plates, porous carbon electrodes (nanostructured carbons) are employed. The extremely small pores measured in nanometers in such carbons give the material a very large active internal surface, in the order of 1000 m2 .g 1 . The activated carbon electrodes are separated by a porous membrane (paper, polymer membranes or glass bers) in an organic electrolyte as depicted in Fig. 5. A supercapacitor according to this principle is frequently called an electric double layer (EDL) capacitor [21,22].

Electrons, which appear on the anode side, cannot cross the membrane and are used in the external circuit before returning to the cathode. Proton ow is directly linked to the current density: JH = i F (2)

where F is the Faradays constant. The value of the output voltage of the cell is given by Gibbs free energy G and is: Vrev = G = 1.23V 2F (3)

This theoretical value is never reached even at no load. For the rated current (around 0.5 A.cm-2), the voltage of an elementary cell is about 0.6-0.7 V. Then a fuel cell is always an assembly of elementary cells which constitute a stack as shown in Fig. 4.

Fig.5: Principle of a Supercapacitor. Compared with batteries, supercapacitors have at least two orders of magnitude higher specic powers, and much longer lifetime. Because they are capable of millions cycles, they are virtually free of maintenance. Their great rated currents enable fast discharges and fast charges as well. Their quite low specic energy, compared to batteries, is in most cases the factor that determines the feasibility of their use in a particular high power application [23-26]. Fig.4: Example of PEMFC stack (23 cells). Fig. 4 shows some of the tubes which delivered gases, a stack having usually 24 connections: 2 4. HYBRID SYSTEM STRUCTURE 4. 1 Fuel Cell Converter Fuel cell operates giving direct current, and at a low voltage; thereby, the boost converter, presented

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in Fig. 6, is selected to adapt the low dc voltage delivered by the fuel cell, which is around 12.5 V at rated power, to the 42 V dc bus. The fuel cell converter is composed of a high frequency inductor L1 (72 H), a total output ltering capacitor C1 (0.702 F), a diode D1 and a main switch S1 . Switch S2 is a shutdown device for test bench security to prevent the fuel cell stack from short circuit in case of accidental destruction of S1 , or of faulty operation of the regulator. Taking into account the low voltage, power MOSFETs for S1 and S2 are chosen [18].

4. 3 Hybrid Control Structure Because fuel cell is supplied with gas through pumps, valves and compressors, it has large time constants (several seconds). Consequently, it cannot correctly respond to fast increasing or decreasing power loads, and may be damaged because of repetitive stepped power loads. For this reason, the fuel cell, in the hybrid system, is only operating in nearly steady state conditions, and supercapacitors are functioning during lacking energy from main source, transient energy delivery or transient energy recovery. The control principle of the hybrid structure is proposed in Fig. 8. The main point of this control is to regulate dc bus voltage vBus with the following constraints: Fuel cell electrical power must be kept within an interval [PF CM in (minimum power), PF CM ax (maximum power)]. Supercapacitive storage device voltage must be kept within an interval [VSuperCM in (minimum voltage), VSuperCM ax (maximum voltage)]. Normally, the system attempts to reach the normal voltage, VSuperCN ormal . Fuel cell current slope must be limited to a maximum absolute value (for example, 10 A.s1 ). In previous work [27], one has tried in hybrid system built with batteries as a main source and supercapacitors as an auxiliary source to control currents in the dierent parts of the system (battery, supercapacitors and load). One of the problems, which appear in such a control, is the presence of dead time operation while the system changes of operating mode (from steady state to a sudden recovery state, for instance). For the new conception, the hybrid system control presents a regulation of the dc bus voltage vBus through the power delivered by the fuel cell and the supercapacitors [28, 29], and the current references are a consequence of the power demand. More precisely, the DC bus voltage controller (PI controller) generates a power reference, called PBusREF as delineated in Fig. 8. This signal is limited in level and rate of change (slopped limitation), to create fuel cell power reference PF CREF , and then it obtains fuel cell current reference iF CREF 1 . The dierence between the two previous power references gives supercapacitor power reference PSuperCREF , and one of the three supercapacitor current references, that is to say iSuperC3 . This signal denes supercapacitors modes of operation: Normal (charge from fuel cell) if iSuperC3 is zero. Recovery (charge from dc bus) if it is positive. And discharge if it is negative. The two other supercapacitor current references, iSuperC1 and iSuperC2 , are generated by Fuel cell current controller2 (I controller) and Supercapacitors voltage controller (P controller), respectively.

Fig.6: Fuel Cell Boost Converter.

4. 2 Supercapacitor Converter The supercapacitors are connected to the dc bus by means of a 2-quadrant dc/dc converter, as shown in Fig. 7. L2 (54 H) represents the inductor used for energy transfer and ltering. The inductor size is classically dened by switching frequency and current ripple. Supercapacitor size is dened by dc bus energy requirements deduced from hybrid power prole [24]. The supercapacitor current, which ows across the storage device, can be positive or negative, allowing energy to be transferred in both directions. Finally, the converter is driven by means of complementary pulses, applied on the gates of two MOSFET S3 and S4 .

Fig.7: 2-Quadrant Supercapacitor Converter.

24 ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.3, NO.1 FEBRUARY 2005

The Hybrid control algorithm as explained hereafter does the choice among these three references. Firstly, during normal operation, when iSuperC3 is zero, supercapacitors are charged by the fuel cell up to the voltage level VSuperCN ormal , which is within the previously dened interval [VSuperCM in , VSuperCM ax ]. To meet this target, Fuel cell current controller2 is supplied with rated fuel cell current as reference, IF CRated , corresponding to rated fuel cell power. Supercapacitor voltage controller is supplied with VSuperCN ormal as reference. The following example will illustrate the calculation of current references iSuperC1 and iSuperC2 . For the considered test bench, the maximum power level at the dc bus PM ax is equal to 441 W, which corresponds to a rated fuel cell current of 40 A. For a steady state operation of the dc bus with for example a load power PLoad of 200 W, let consider the case where the supercapacitor voltage vSuperC is equal to 5 V. The supercapacitors have to be charged to VSuperCN ormal , here 14 V. If assuming now that proportional gain of Supercapacitors voltage controller is 50, one obtains for current reference iSuperC2 a value of 450 A which corresponds to a power of 2,250 W. This is higher than PM ax , so that this reference cannot be used. In contrast, Fuel cell current controller2 generates iSuperC1 by I corrector, which will automatically generate the accurate value to obtain zero steady state error. As it is necessary to charge the supercapacitors, the fuel cell current reference iFCREF2 is equal to the rated current of 40 A. From Fuel cell current controller2, one obtains a current iSuperC1 of 48 A, by (441W-200W)/5V (assuming here that converters have no losses). The Hybrid Control Algorithm will chose the minimum value between iSuperC1 and iSuperC2 . If iSuperCREF is equal to iSuperC1 , the system works with a value which corresponds to the available fuel cell power. Then, supercapacitors end of charge will be controlled by voltage loop. When this one occurs iSuperCREF becomes iSuperC2 . On the considered test bench, when vSuperC reaches 13.56 V, reference iSuperC2 becomes lower than reference iSuperC1 , to prepare the end of charge. Note that during this operation, charging current has to be limited in rate of change, in order to avoid instability due to a too fast increasing current, which would be seen as a peak load by the system. Note also that each transition in the normal mode begins with the initialization of the integrator of Fuel cell current controller2. Secondly, when one of the two limitations (rate of change, and level) on fuel cell power reference is working, a non-zero iSuperC3 signal is generated, which can be positive or negative, depending on power condition at the dc bus. Therefore, in the case of discharge mode, charac-

terized by a fast transient increasing load, or by a power load greater than PF CM ax , the current reference iSuperC3 becomes negative in order to transfer the lacking energy to the dc bus. Supercapacitor voltage controller is supplied with VSuperCM in as reference, and the Hybrid control algorithm leads to select the maximum value between iSuperC3 and iSuperC2 if supercapacitor voltage is greater than VSuperCM in , zero otherwise. On the other hand, in the case of recovery mode (transient fast decreasing load, or power load less than PF CM in ), the current reference iSuperC3 becomes positive. Supercapacitor voltage controller is supplied with VSuperCM ax as reference, and the Hybrid control algorithm leads to select the minimum value between iSuperC3 and iSuperC2 if supercapacitor voltage is less than VSuperCM ax , zero otherwise. In the two cases (iSuperC3 is positive or negative), the reference and integrator of Fuel cell current controller2 are set to zero for prevision of the next normal operation as shown in Fig. 8 by the Control Signal. Finally, note that iSuperC3 , which is sensitive to dc bus disturbance (noise immunity), to switching and to ESR of supercapacitors, has to be ltered before sending to hysteresis switch in order to dene hybrid system modes of operation. This lter and hysteresis comparator will be done numerically within the Hybrid Control System. 5. HYBRID SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION Fig. 9 depicts hybrid system implementation for system algorithm in Matlab/Simulink block diagram for dSPACE (CP1104) interfacing card. The hybrid system communicates with operator by ControlDesk from computer screen, and contacts with converter (vBus , vSuperC ), and so forth) by DAC (Digital to Analogue Conversion) and ADC (Analogue to Digital Conversion) of dSPACE interfacing card. dSPACE system generates current references which are sent to fuel cell and supercapacitor current controllers. These last ones are realized by analogical circuits in order to operate with a high bandwidth. Notice that motor controller is considered as a load at the dc bus. It does not relate with the hybrid control algorithm, which is independent from load current. 6. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Fig. 10 shows the simplied diagram of the PEM fuel cell system used for this research. Constructed by Zentrum fr Sonnenenergie und Wasserstou Forschung (ZSW), Ulm, Germany, the fuel cell stack is composed of 23 cells of 100 cm2 . It is supplied with pure hydrogen (stored under pressure in bottles) and air from a compressor. Additionally, the hardware test bench structure is presented in Fig. 11.

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Fig.8: Hybrid System Control Structure.

Fig.10: Simplied Diagram of the 500 W PEM Fuel Cell System. stepped current command. It shows that current response has high dynamics with optimum response by current controller (PID). 6. 2 Fuel Cell Converter Testing with a PEM Fuel Cell In a practical system, when fuel cell is operated, its fuel ow is controlled by fuel cell processor, which receives current demand from current reference as shown in Fig. 8. The fuel cell processor links the reactant delivery rate to the usage rate [8, 9]. Nevertheless, to present the fuel cell characteris-

Fig.9: Hybrid System Context Diagram.

6. 1 Fuel Cell Converter Testing with an Ideal Power Supply First testing is performed using an ideal 12.5V power supply, which has the same rated voltage as the fuel cell, in order to conrm that the boost converter can operate correctly and to compare fuel cell and ideal power supply characteristics. Fig. 12 shows the input current response with a

26 ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.3, NO.1 FEBRUARY 2005

Fig.11: Hybrid System Test Bench.

Fig.13: Fuel Cell Current Response to a 10-40 A Step at Constant Fuel Flow for 50 A.

Fig.12: Current Response to a 10 - 40 A Step. tics, this test bench is operated in two dierent ways for fuel ow, Firstly, fuel cell works at constant fuel ow corresponding to the maximum available current of 50 A. In this case, the fuel cell has always enough hydrogen and oxygen. Secondly, the fuel ow varies depending on fuel cell current reference. As shown in Fig. 13, dynamic response of fuel cell current is dierent from Fig. 12. There are two ways to explain this phenomenon. Firstly, by electrical way, the electrical fuel cell model is dierent from an ideal power supply. Secondly, by physical way, the phenomenon is due to the slowness of its thermodynamic operation.

And, Fig. 14 shows the eect of mechanical problems. It can be seen from fuel cell voltage that it drops lower than on Fig. 13. This means that its fuel supply and delivered electrical current do not coincide. Fuel ow is not enough for converter current. This condition of operating is hazardous for the fuel cell stack. For this reason, a fast auxiliary power source must be used to cooperate with fuel cell in order to limit speedy transition of fuel cell current. At least, the characteristics of the PEMFC, in steady-state when connecting with converter, are presented in Fig. 15. It can be distinguished that the PEMFC contains complex impedance component, which it is not purely resistive at a switching frequency of 25 kHz [20]. 6. 3 Hybrid System Test Bench As storage device, hybrid system utilizes six SAFT supercapacitors (capacitance: 3,500 F, rated voltage: 2.5 V, rated current: 400 A, series resistance: 0.8 m ) connected in series. Technical specications of the control process are as follows: PF CRated = 500

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Fig.16: Hybrid Response to a Stepped Load. W, PF CM in = 50 W, PF CM ax = 530 W, IF CRated = 40 A, VSuperCN ormal = 13 V, VSuperCM in = 8 V, VSuperCM ax = 15 V, and power slope of fuel cell is 50 W.s1 (around 8.5 A.s1 ) while current slope of fuel cell for charging supercapacitors is limited to 4 A.s1 . While operating with the supercapacitors, the fuel ow is not anymore xed to a 50 A current but adapted to the value of the delivered current to improve the eciency of the system. Fig. 16 shows transient responses to a stepped load, which corresponds nearly to a 10-40 A step of the fuel cell current. One can observe that the dc bus voltage is well regulated, and that fuel cell current smoothly increases with a slope of 8.5 A.s1 . Furthermore, during transient state, supercapacitors transfer energy back to the dc bus in order to compensate the energy, which is not supplied by the main source. Fig. 17 presents hybrid characteristics during normal operation, through supercapacitors charge from 12 V to 13 V. The dc bus has a constant load of about 10 A delivered by the main source. At the beginning of charge at t = 3 s, iSuperCREF is iSuperC1 . It can be observed that fuel cell current slope is approximately 4 A.s1 , which is lower than the previous 8.5 A.s1 , necessary condition for stability. Furthermore, during the charging process the fuel cell delivered its rated

Fig.14: Fuel Cell Current Response to a 10-40 A Step at Variable Fuel Flow.

Fig.15: PEM Fuel Cell Characteristics at Rated Power (top: FC Voltage Ripple [250 mV/Div], bottom: FC Current [10 A/div]).

28 ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.3, NO.1 FEBRUARY 2005

Fig.17: Charging Supercapacitors from 12 V to 13 V.

Fig.18: Hybrid System Response when Overloading.

current. Besides, the transition of iSuperCREF from iSuperC1 to iSuperC2 occurs (end of charge) at t = 25 s, for a supercapacitor voltage of nearly 13 V, because of the use of a high proportional gain (200) for supercapacitor voltage controller. Fig. 18 presents transient responses of the hybrid system to an excessive load. Before this test, supercapacitor voltage is equal to VSuperCN ormal = 13 V. The supercapacitors compensate the main source during both transient state and steady state, because of fuel cell current slope and fuel cell power limitations. During the rst interval, beginning at t = 4 s, the current delivered by the main source slowly increases (with a controlled slope) up to its maximum value, the lacking energy being delivered by supercapacitors from t = 7.8 s to 18 s. Then, the sudden decrease of the power load at t = 18 s leads to a recovery mode for supercapacitors, in order to allow a slow controlled decrease of the fuel cell current. Fig. 19 corresponds to a sudden recovery of energy on the dc bus. This energy is recovered by the supercapacitors while a slow decreasing of the main source current is performed. In this example, fuel cell never delivered less than 50 W in order to maintain fuel cell converter operating in continuous current mode.

Fig.19: Hybrid System Response when Recovering.

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7. CONCLUSION The main objective of this work is to propose a new method of controlling an automotive dc bus supplied by a hybrid source using supercapacitors as auxiliary source, in association with a PEM fuel cell as main source, knowing that this kind of electrical source is not able to supply energy during fast transitions of load because of current slope limitation, during peak loads because of power limitation, and during recovery because of only positive current delivering. The experimental results with a 500 W PEM fuel cell conrm the slow dynamic response of the system, due to both thermodynamic and mechanical phenomena. Results carried out by means of a hybrid system test bench, which uses a storage device composed of six SAFT 3,500 F supercapacitors connected in series, have shown the possibility to improve the transient performance of the system and validate the proposed control principle. This control principle can be also applied with other kinds of auxiliary power source, such as Li-Ion batteries, and with other kinds of main sources. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research is partially supported by French National Center for Scientic Research (CNRS) and Nancy Research Group in Electrical Engineering (GREEN, UMR CNRS 7037). References [1] S. Thomas and M. Zalbowitz, Fuel Cells - Green Power, prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy, under contract W-7405- ENG-36, Available: http://education.lanl.gov/resources/fuelcells/ fuelcells.pdf. [2] J. Larminie and A. Dicks, Fuel cell systems explained, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 2000, pp. 1-43. [3] D. McKay and A. Stefanopoulou, Parameterization and Validation of a Lumped Parameter Diusion Model for Fuel Cell Stack Membrane Humidity Estimation, in Proc. 2004 IEEE-American Control Conf., June 30 - July 2, 2004, Boston, MA. [4] K. J. Kelly and A. Rajagopalan, Benchmarking of OEM hybrid electric vehicles at NREL, prepared for the DOE, Contract No. DE-AC36-99-GO10337, August 2001, Available: http://www.eere.energy. gov. [5] U.S. Department of Energy, Thunder Power bus evaluation at Sun Line Transit Agency, DOE/GO-102003-1786, November 2003, Available: http:// www.eere.energy.gov. [6] C. Jeraputra and P.N. Enjeti, Development of a robust anti-islanding algorithm for utility interconnection of distributed fuel cell powered gener-

ation, IEEE Trans. on Power Electronics, Vol. 19, No. 5, Sep. 2004, pp. 1163- 1170. [7] S.K. Mazumder et al, Solid-oxide-fuel-cell performance and durability: resolution of the effects of power-conditioning systems and application loads, IEEE Trans. on Power Electronics, Vol. 19, No. 5, Sep. 2004, pp. 1263- 1278. [8] J. Wang et al, Low cost fuel cell converter system for residential power generation, IEEE Trans. on Power Electronics, Vol. 19, No. 5, Sep. 2004, pp. 1315-1322. [9] P.T. Krein, R.S. Balog and Xin Geng, Highfrequency link inverter for fuel cells based on multiple-carrier PWM, IEEE Trans. on Power Electronics, Vol. 19, No. 5, Sep. 2004, pp. 12791288. [10] A. Vahidi, A.G. Stefanopoulou and H. Peng, Model Predictive Control for Starvation Prevention in a Hybrid Fuel Cell System, in Proc. 2004 IEEE-American Control Conf., 2004, June 30 July 2, 2004, Boston, MA. [11] P. Thounthong, S. Ral and B. Davat, e Test of a PEM fuel cell with low voltage static converter, Journal of Power Sources, Available: http://authors. elsevier.com/sd/article/S0378775305001564 [12] E. J. Cegnar, H. L. Hess and B. K. Johnson, A Purely Ultracapacitor Energy Storage System for Hybrid Electric Vehicles Utilizing a Microcontroller Based dc-dc Boost Converter, in Proc. IEEE-APEC2004, Feb. 22-26, 2004, Anaheim, California-USA. [13] J. M. Miller, Ultracapacitors Challenge the Battery, The world and I Magazine, June 2004, pp.130-137. [14] B. Maher, A Backup Power System Using Ultracapacitors, Power Electronics Technology Magazine, Sep 01, 2004, pp. 44-49. [15] Y. Kim, Ultracapacitor Technology Powers Electronic Circuits Power Electronics Technology Magazine, Oct 01, 2003, pp. 34-39. [16] B. Maher, Ultracapacitors and the Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Passive Component Industry Magazine, March/April 2001, pp. 30-36. [17] J.T. Pukrushpan, A.G. Stefanopoulou and H. Peng, Controlling Fuel Cell Breathing, IEEE Control Systems Magazine, Vol. 24/2, April, 2004, pp. 30-46. [18] P. Thounthong, S. Ral and B. Davat, Test e Bench of a PEM Fuel Cell with Low Voltage Static Converter, in Proc. The 2004 Fuel Cell Seminar, (CDROM), Texas-USA, November 1-5, 2004. [19] P. Thounthong, S. Ral and B. Davat, Utilize ing Fuel Cell and Supercapacitors for Automotive Hybrid Electrical System, in Proc. IEEE-APEC 2005 Conf., Texas-USA, March 6-10, 2005. [20] W. Friede, S. Ral and B. Davat, Mathematie cal Model and Characterization of the Transient

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Behavior of a PEM Fuel Cell, IEEE Trans. on Power Electronics, Vol. 19, No. 5, Sept. 2004, pp. 1234-1241. [21] R. Ktz and M. Carlen, Principles and applicao tions of electrochemical capacitors, Electrochimica Acta, Vol: 45, Issues 15-16, May 3, 2000, pp. 2483-2498. [22] A. Burke, Ultracapacitors: why, how, and where is the technology, Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 91, Issue 1, Nov. [23] A. Rufer and P. Barrade, A SupercapacitorBased Energy-Storage System for Elevators With Soft Commutated Interface, IEEE Trans. on Industry Applications, Vol. 38, Issue: 5, Sept./Oct. 2002, pp. 1151-1159. [24] A. Rufer, D. Hotellier and P. Barrade, A Supercapacitor-Based Energy-Storage Substation for Voltage-Compensation in Weak Transportation Networks, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol. 19, No. 2, April 2004, pp. 629-636. [25] J. W. Dixon and M.E. Ortuzar, Ultracapacitors + DC-DC Converters in Regenerative Braking System, IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Systems Magazine, vol. 17, Issue: 8, Aug. 2002, pp. 16 -21. [26] M. Ortzar, J. Dixon and J. Moreno, Design, u Construction and Performance of a Buck-Boost Converter for an Ultracapacitor-Based Auxiliary Energy System for Electric Vehicles, in Proc. IEEE-IECON2003, Nov. 2-6, 2003, Roanoke, Virginia, USA, (CDROM). [27] M. Y. Ayad, S. Ral and B. Davat, Hybrid e Power Source Using Supercapacitors and Batteries, in Proc. EPE03 Conf., Toulouse-France, Sept. 2003. [28] W. Choi, P. Enjeti and J. W. Howze, Fuel Cell Powered UPS Systems: Design Considerations, in Proc. IEEE-PESC03 Conf., Acapulco, June 2003. [29] P. Thounthong, S. Ral and B. Davat, Supere capacitors as an Energy Storage for Fuel Cell Automotive Hybrid Electrical System, in Proc. ESSCAP2004 1st European Symposium on Supercapacitors & Applications, (CDROM), BelfortFrance, Nov. 4-5, 2004.

Sphane Ral received the Engineer t e degree at ENSIEG, Grenoble, France in 1992, and the Ph.D degree from Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG) in 1996. Since 1998, he has been working as associate Professor at ENSEM, INPL in the eld of power electronic components, supercapacitor, battery and fuel cell.

Bernard Davat received the Engineer degree at ENSEEIHT, Toulouse, France in 1975, the Ph.D degree in 1978 and the Docteur dEtat degree in 1978, both from Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse (INPT). During 1980-1988, he worked as researcher at CNRS (French National Center for Scientic Research) at LEEI. Since 1988, he has been working as Professor at ENSEM, INPL. His main research interests deal with power electronics and new electrical devices (fuel cell and supercapacitor).

Phatiphat Thounthong received the B.S. in Technical Education in Electrical Engineering and M.E. degree in Electrical Engineering both from King Mongkuts Institute of Technology North Bangkok (KMITNB), Bangkok, Thailand, in 1996 and 2000, respectively. In 1997, he worked as electrical engineer in E.R. Metal Works Ltd. (EKARAT GROUP). In 1998 to 2000, he was an assistant lecturer at KMITNB. Nowadays, he is preparing a Ph.D dissertation about utilizing fuel cells and supercapacitors in electrical vehicle at ENSEM, Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine (INPL), France.